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UID:dc64270d-7b7d-465f-ad2a-60b624ce48f8@findlocal.community
DTSTAMP:20261012T011118Z
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20270220T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20270220T213000
SUMMARY:Shovels & Rope
DESCRIPTION:SOMETHING IS WORKING UP ABOVE MY HEAD One night in the middle
  of the night there were a series of noises coming from above which lead
  to a series of thoughts. It sounded like something was working. Buildin
 g something… A nest for its family? A trap for its prey? This led to mor
 e thoughts about unseen things at work. A God? A voice in your head? It 
 all feels kind of made up until someone responds to it. Less means more.
  That’s kind of always how it’s been with us. This time the rules were s
 imple: we can only use what we work with live and whatever we put down o
 n tape must be accomplishable on a stage in a live setting. That’s alway
 s seemed to be when we’re at our best. Or most twitchy. Many times we’ve
  made records that we loved and then\, after figuring out how we’d perfo
 rm it live\, we end up falling in love with the live arrangement because
  being a 2 piece band\, it took some real risk and struggle which led to
  innovation\, which gave it a whole new life. (Consider the tortured gra
 pe.) So with this one we just started there and worked backwards. The re
 sult encapsulates\, more than anything we’ve done before\, the sound of 
 our live performance. Resulting in what one might consider by definition
 \, a definitive album. The summer and fall leading up to recording we sp
 ent writing songs\, hanging out with family in Colorado\, and playing sh
 ows opening for The Wood Brothers and Gregory Alan Isakov\, both of whom
  have large audiences. So each night we were playing in front of a lot o
 f people\, many of whom had never heard of us. We decided to take those 
 opportunities to rattle our comfort zone cage and try out a bunch of bra
 nd new\, just written songs and basically learn how to play them in fron
 t a few thousand people. The songs would grow and change show to show\, 
 sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Maybe we go down i
 n flames? Maybe something beautiful happens while it’s burning? We happi
 ly embraced the chaos. That’s kind of always how it’s been with us. We h
 ad a new song that initially neither of us thought that much of called ‘
 Love Song From A Dog.” During one of the first nights of the Isakov run\
 , we decided on stage\, mid set\, to try it out because the show was goi
 ng well and the audience was warm. And it kind of killed. People honestl
 y wouldn’t shut up about it. Not a brag more like a phenomenon or a weir
 d dream. It became a fan favorite moment of our set each night and hones
 tly in all the years of doing this we’ve never had so many people send u
 s messages or reach out about any one specific song as they did this one
 . It just goes to show us that we don’t know anything. When it came time
  to record it we thought it’d be fitting and a nice touch to have Greg s
 ing on it since it was his audience who basically fostered it into being
  by giving us the confidence and encouragement we needed to see it the w
 ay they did. He generously obliged and the song was instantly elevated b
 y the sincerity and richness of mood that colors his voice. The two of u
 s can’t help but be obsessed with duality. The song ‘Two Wolves’ is a me
 ditation about two conflicting energies competing for power. The first t
 ime we ever played it was on New Years Eve in an arena opening for Tyler
  Childers in front of 15k or so country music fans who surely were like 
 “what the hell is this\,” but to us it seemed 100 percent appropriate be
 cause it just feels like an arena type song. A fuzzy\, thick riffed stom
 per with a meditative head bob refrain. So we opened with it because\, w
 ell.. it felt like we had to. For those who are new here we’ve spent the
  last decade or so bouncing around in the ‘Americana’ realm quite a bit.
  Getting branded into that world was admittedly a bit of a head scratche
 r for us as we’ve always identified as more of a rock band (though we do
  think of ourselves as folk songwriters and yarn spinners\, and we do ha
 rmonize well together) but the people were paying attention and we were 
 building a fan base so we kind of felt like “who were we to tell them wh
 o we weren’t?” But when you go all the way to Europe and are standing on
  a stage in front of a few hundred Scandinavians who are dressed in head
  to toe denim and cowboy hats\, we can’t help but feel like we’re about 
 to confuse some people. We will often find ourselves playing an outdoor\
 , ‘free in the park’ type of concert series where a Male and Female with
  2 guitars and beautiful harmonies will be booked as the opener\, and th
 en we’ll take the stage and proceed to be a little louder and maybe a li
 ttle more brash than was anticipated. It’s always kind of been this way 
 with us. The joke in our camp when this happens goes something like: And
  for tonight’s entertainment\, we have for you “The What We Thought They
  Were’s” followed by the “Louder Than We Thoughts”! Recently we did a gi
 g where the spokesperson said to us just before we went on\, ‘so maybe d
 on’t come out with your heaviest guitar stuff and your 808 bass bullshit
  right off the rip…there are kids and old people here and they’ll leave”
  (he was trying to be helpful). We politely told him “Don’t worry\, we h
 ave a plan”.. .and then again opened with ‘Two Wolves\,’ with it’s loud 
 guitar stuff and it’s 808 bullshit\, followed by a dynamic set where we 
 touched on all the different things we do and everyone proceeded to have
  a great time. That’s kind of always how it’s been with us. “Something I
 s Working Up Above My Head” is a catalog of vulnerable characters with s
 weet and sordid narratives. ‘Colorado River’ is a song about a boy and h
 is Dad disposing of bodies in various ways as the water level recedes an
 d dark surprises surface. The hot dog bun line was initially supposed to
  be a place holder because it sounded funny and it rhymed\, but then we 
 sang it so many times over the summer that it built a little hot dog sha
 ck and moved in forever. I still think it’s kind of dumb but it’s also k
 ind of great. For those who pay attention\, it’s a pretty obvious John P
 rine nod. I’d like to think he handed us the hot dog bun like a relay ba
 ton on his way to the great mystery. Macabre pairs well with a side of h
 umor. ‘Piranhanana’ is about a boy growing up in a house of sex workers 
 and being fine with it with a little meditation\, while his sister strug
 gles to find her zen. ‘I’d Be Lying’ is about navigating a crisis with a
  long time friend. ‘Double Lines’ follows the journey of a young woman t
 hru pregnancy tests\, covid tests\, and various other forms of duality a
 nd two-ness. ‘Something is Working’ and ‘Dass Hymn’ (referring to Ram Da
 ss) were the last 2 songs written and added to the collection of songs. 
 They book end the record with questions about what\, if anything\, is pu
 lling the strings? In the closing moments of the last song\, 3 generatio
 ns of our family all sing together about how nobody knows what happens a
 t the end. And in all the not knowing\, it’s comforting to sing with you
 r family. shovelsandrope.com TICKETS TO SHOVELS AND ROPE\n\nTickets: htt
 p://stoughtonoperahouse.showare.com/ShovelsRope_27\n\nhttps://findlocal.
 community/event/dc64270d-7b7d-465f-ad2a-60b624ce48f8
LOCATION:Stoughton Opera House\, Stoughton\, WI
URL:https://findlocal.community/event/dc64270d-7b7d-465f-ad2a-60b624ce48f
 8
STATUS:CONFIRMED
SEQUENCE:0
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